Deborah at Tante Esther’s

Saul Leiter

1947

Photograph of woman sitting at the end of a table in front of open doors, wearing a scarf and covering her face with tea cup.

Saul Leiter was known for his photographs of street life in New York City and for his pioneering work in color photography, but he also took more intimate pictures of his family and friends. This photograph was shot early in his career, soon after he arrived in New York. He often photographed his younger sister Deborah, whom he considered his muse.

Credits

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 9.

Coney Island

The ethos of the Photo League, the cooperative that Sid Grossman co-founded, was that documenting everyday life was a way not only of recording social progress but also contributing to it, by helping…

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Photograph of woman in a dress and hat walking across a city street with cars, people, and buildings in the background.

Midtown Manhattan

In this photograph, Rebecca Lepkoff, known for her many photographs of the Lower East Side, turned her lens on a street scene in midtown Manhattan. As befitting her background in modern dance, there…

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Abstract painting depicting a man, angled away from the viewer and with a long beard, raising tablets to the sky.

Moses Breaking the Tablets of Law

Though Lippy Lipshitz was best known as a sculptor, he produced a small body of paintings, including this watercolor. Its dark palette is similar to that of other pictures he made in the 1940s…

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Printed poster with Hebrew text on top and bottom, featuring a central figure with clenched fists and weapons protruding from behind. Two fists are waving a large flag with the number 30 on it above the central figure's head.

Hashomer Hatzair Poster to Honor the 30th Anniversary of the October Revolution

This poster in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of the October revolution of 1917 in Russia calls on all who seek peace, progress, and socialism to support the “first workers’ state,” the Soviet…

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Painting of wall on which hang six portraits and handwritten text in a circle, with a small picture, a palette, and drawing of a cat at the top.

Imaginary Wall in My Studio

This “imaginary wall” in Raphael Soyer’s studio features (clockwise, from top left) a self-portrait; portraits of the artists Nicolai Cikovsky, Moses Soyer, and Chaim Gross. In the center is the…

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Photograph depicting painted advertisement of a woman on wall of brick building next to a clothesline on adjacent wall.

Lower Eastside Façade

Erika Stone’s photography frequently features odd juxtapositions. Here, the face of a woman on a huge advertisement painted on the brick wall of a tenement building provides a striking contrast with…

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Creator Bio

Saul Leiter

1923–2013

Saul Leiter was an American painter and photographer, one of the first to work in color photography. Born in Pittsburgh, Leiter began studying at a rabbinical school in Cleveland, but soon changed course, moving to New York at age twenty-three to pursue a painting career. In New York, he befriended a number of fellow artists who inspired him to experiment in photography. Leiter worked for fashion magazines including Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, all the while taking personal photographs that transmuted the bustling urban environment of Manhattan into quiet meditations on color and form. His work has recently enjoyed renewed popularity with the publication of a monograph in 2006, as well as an award-winning 2012 documentary.